A phone call, an email, and a bedroom purchase!

First of all it's been almost 2 months since we sent everything in to apply for our I800a update.  I called last week and spoke to the officer in charge of our file and she said that they had been hoping to "refresh" our fingerprints so we wouldn't have to have them done but since it was taking so long (for us and 5 other families with files on her desk) that she was just going to go ahead and request new fingerprinting appointments for us.  Grrr.

Well!  At 7:37 this morning USCIS called me to let me know that even thought they generated an appointment for us that we can disregard it because our fingerprint refresh came through and that our approval will be processed today!  Woot woot!  Now, driving to Salt Lake to get our fingerprints re-done isn't a huge thing, but I'll take a pass at anything in the process when it's given to us!!  Besides, that is a half day of patients that Mark won't have to reschedule and miss once we'd gotten our assigned appointment time.  So we're happy about that.

I emailed Chareyl to let her know about that just in case a possible referral was pending for us that she'd know that things are almost wrapped up with USCIS.  She instructed me to scan over a copy of the approval once we get it so she can send it to her rep in Haiti to take in to IBESR.  I'm crossing my fingers that when that happens that we may get some sort of update on our file (however vague that may be).  She did say that she has been trying to follow up on the I800a files of hers and that she hasn't gotten any specific information at this point, but that she was told that "there are some files waiting for SOME of my families".  I'm hopeful that one of those files may be our daughter...

This month our file has been waiting at IBESR for a referral for a year.  We started the Haitian adoption process 20 months ago (almost exactly 1 month after our prior adoption agency closed their program).  And we are 2 months shy of having started this entire adoption process FOUR years ago (our first adoption application was submitted 10/3/12 for an Ethiopian adoption).  I know we still have a lot of the process to go before we bring our daughter home, but I am hopeful to at least know her face soon.  To know what little I can about our little girl before we can meet her and hold her.

And so!  To landmark our little victory in skipping fingerprinting (ok, ok...more just because I really wanted to buy it) - I bought a rug for her room!  I saw this rug and knew I would regret not getting it. I've waited a long time for a little girl and may go a little crazy with things floral, pink, ruffly, and just girly in general.  I know I want her room to be kind of outdoor-chic.  So, I want it to have some outdoor elements like birds and fauna, but I also want a little chandelier light fixture.  We will have to work on how to blend all of that.  I have fabric that I bought 6 years ago to make a quilt for my daughter someday that has a lot of the colors I want to use and many of them were in this rug.  So I had to get it!  Besides it was 70% off + an additional 10% off for signing up on the site with my email + free shipping so how could I not, right??

Here it is:

The coloring in this photo doesn't do it justice.  I wish I could've figured out how to download one of the pictures of it actually in a room with natural light.  I just LOVE it.  I can't wait to be sitting on the floor with my little girl on it someday...